Series Book

3.5

Chapter 1: Prolgue

Zayden Ro'Meave had died. He had been dead for four months.

So it was safe to say he didn't have a heartbeat.

But he sure did feel like he had a heart.

He couldn't feel pain, at least not physically anymore.

But every now and then, all he got was a twang of hurt. More often that's not, his heart would break, and he knew why.

Every time the people he loved broke down or cried for him, he'd feel it.

That's all Zayden got. A small feeling.

He did not get a doorway into their world to hug them and tell them it was going to be okay. He could not watch them and see when, where, and why someone had shed a tear for him. All he got was a small feeling of despair.

He thought of his family, and he knew that even if he couldn't see them, that it was them that had cried for him. He still had the ability to cry, so he did. He cried into his hands. He wanted to cry enough for the people he loved to feel it in their world, to feel it in their hearts that he knows they think of him.

The first time he felt this was two days after his death. He had been sitting in an "afterlife replica" of Zaiden's house in Dayton, when suddenly he got a heavy indescribable feeling in his chest. He could not see living people, nor could he hear them, but what he felt seemed connected to them.

Janus had explained to him that the dead can feel the ache of the living that mourn them. He too had felt a lot of it days after he died, but at some point it had toned down, indicating they had slowly moved on.

Zayden never found out who was mourning him in Zaiden's house, which bothered him a lot. He knew his family was in grief and he couldn't do anything about it.

Unbeknownst to Zayden, the person that was mourning him was Zion and Nekoette. That day was when Zaiden had to tell them that they grandpa would not come back.

They were alive, and are considered the lucky ones, but being dead was no better. He left them. That's the one thing he's done that he can't forgive himself for. Leaving them.

The afterlife was interesting to say the least. For one, the world was what he thought was too bright. It was a brighter, more white replica of the real world. It looked heavenly, but at some point the look of it all became exhausting.

Another interesting thing was that he woke up in the afterlife with his young body. He was never told the age of the form he took, but he assumed it was him in his 20's. he had missed his agility, his fresh blond hair, and overall the feeling of youth, so having this form was exciting for him.

Sometimes he'd walk over to the replica of Ava Davidson's house, which was also his old childhood home. It was always empty, expect for the telephone with the broken cord sitting in the upstairs room and the flowers in the front yard.

Jeffery told him that the only objects that are visible to ghost in the replicas of the world are the ones that were most Important to them during their life. It was a beautiful way to see the world, as it reminded them how much they had loved during life, but also broke him knowing he had left Ava so abruptly and heartbroken.

---

Now, Zayden had been sitting cross legged in Zaiden's home, which was also empty expect for a few objects like his old guitar that he passed down to Zaiden, Gene's first song award's trophy, and Zion and Nekoette karate belt with their swords.

He had heard a scuffle from the front door, so he stood up and walk toward it. Once he got there, he was face to face with Jeffery, who's eyes had widened and looked in shock.

"Jeff?" Zayden asked tried to calm his friend, "Are you alright?"

Jeffery was still silent, staring off into space as if he hadn't heard Zayden speak to him. Zayden led him to the floor to sit down, and he unknowingly followed.

"Jeffery," Zayden repeated, "what's wrong with you?" He asked once they had both sat down.

"Abby." Was all Jeffery said, as his leg shook repeatedly and rapidly.

Zayden raised his eyebrows, "Abby? What about your daughter?"

Jeffery finally looked Zayden in the eye, "I saw her." Once he said that, Zayden had felt an ache in his chest, or at least the closest thing to an ache someone could get when they're dead.

Zayden knew that if Jeffery saw Abby, it had meant she died. The only people ghost could see, were other ghost. He could not believe that his best friends daughter had joined them so early on in his life. "How did she died?" Zayden asked.

Zayden waited for an answer, but instead Jeffery started shaking his head rapidly, "She's not dead."

"How did you see her, then?" Zayden asked in utter confusion.

Jeffery sighed, "I dropped by my house and was thinking a lot about those days when we'd babysit his kids and teach them how to known about The history of Jury of Nine. In the office, remember that?"

Zayden smiled and nodded, and Jeffery continued.

"I was thinking about how much I missed that. How much I missed being able to run around and be so- so-" Jeffery struggled with his words.

"Alive." Zayden had finished for him, and Jeffery nodded with a bittersweet look on his face.

"I thought about it so hard. How if I could have one day to go back it'd be to do that kind of stuff again." He rambled, "And when I opened my eyes, my house was filled with furniture. Everything that was in my house in the living world. None of it is important to me, so I couldn't understand why I could see it."

Zayden, intrigued, urged his friend to go on.

"Then I saw her." He looked Zayden in the eye, "She was holding her own son and watching television. I knew it was real, Zayden. I saw into the living world."

Naturally a skeptic, Zayden tried considering other things. One was that ghost tended to hallucinate a lot about the living world when they missed it so much, but they couldn't get much out of it. Another was that Jeffery had been the one of them both to always believe the craziest things.

Jeffery had tried convincing him for the next thirty minutes, insisting what he saw had been real.

"WAIT." Jeffery had yelled suddenly, making Zayden flinch, "Oops, sorry."

"What is it?" Zayden had asked.

"I know why I'm not hallucinating." A smile started to form on his face.

Zayden raised a brow, "Alright... Why?"

"Ghosts only hallucinate about the things they have seen or felt in the living world." Jeffery began. "I saw my daughter."

"Okay... and?" Zayden awaited elaboration.

"Zayden." Jeffery said, "I died before I could meet my own granddaughter."